Luke Bryan: Tim McGraw Was His “Play It Again” Song

When we hear Luke Bryan‘s “Play It Again,”
we all know exactly what our own “Play It Again” song is or was. For me, it was Tim McGraw‘s “Where the Green Grass Grows.” And it turns out, that was Bryan’s “Oh, my god, this is my song,” too.

During last week’s party in Nashville to celebrate “Play It Again” and Bryan’s other string of No. 1 singles, I had a chance to ask him what song he’d listen for on the radio when he was growing up.

“That’s tough. Gosh, there have been a lot of them. You stumped me,” he said at first. “Through college there were, like, 10 of them. And it was a lot of Lionel Richie stuff when I was a kid, like ‘All Night Long (All Night).’”

Ultimately, though, the question brought him back to his years at Georgia Southern University and beyond.

“I think when McGraw came out with ‘Where the Green Grass Grows,’ I was in college,” he said of the massive 1998 hit. “And I remember we’d be at a field party or something, and we’d crank up ‘Green Grass Grows,’ and it turned the vibe of the bonfire certainly up.”